PROPERTY – IT’S ALL ABOUT THE EMOTIONS!
Buying and selling a property has long been known to be one of the most stressful things someone can do in life. In fact, it ranks alongside death and divorce. Part of the reason why property negotiations can feel so stressful are that we have to navigate through a series of time sensitive situations, which are often exacerbated by emotions running high, sometimes to breaking point.
A question for you. Name me another transaction in life which a large percentage of the UK population would go through at some point or another, that would involve similar levels of money, plus emotion? I dare say you may be drawing a blank. Property is arguably the only deal we ever do in life, where money, feelings and as a result stress, all run equally high at the same time.
If we take a look at the steps through the property process, you will see what I mean.
When you come to sell your home, it’s a big step to reach that decision. Not only have you worked hard to secure the property first time around when you purchased it, but you have invested in improvements and had numerous high and lows within it. If walls could talk as they say! As a home owner, you have invested emotionally in the property.
When it comes to placing your home on to the market, you listen to the television, newspapers and media and can get hoodwinked into thinking that putting away all the family photographs, removing items of furniture and painting the walls white will work wonders. However, this is not the case!
Remember, this is property and it’s emotional. So if your house is now presented like a white hospital clinic, ask yourself “who likes going to hospital?” Of course nobody does, so why present your home like one? What you have inadvertently done is to take the heart and soul out of the building. Buying a home (not an investment property) is again down to emotions, so play to these strengths. Keep the photographs of the children on display, the log fire burning or perhaps some cookbooks out by the AGA – people are buying into a lifestyle choice, so present your home to a similar theme.
You then invite a couple of estate agents to pitch for your business. Whilst thoughts on guide price always seem to rightly or wrongly play a significant defining factor in choosing the right agent, so does the way you feel about an agent personally. Do they love and enthuse about the property as much as you would like? If they don’t, I bet you would show them the door. If they do, you have made more of an emotional connection with them.
The last step is as a seller. Once you have secured a buyer for your own property, the tables now turn. You are the one immediately under pressure to find the right property and there are so many different elements to bring together all at the same time. The ongoing search for that elusive perfect home, keeping the buyer of your own property happy, checking everything is progressing smoothly, the mortgage application – the list goes on. Again it gets emotional.
So yes, buying and selling property is stressful. Our emotions play a huge part in how much we allow the anxiety pressure gauge to rise. A fine balancing act is required, ensuring your heart doesn’t always overrule your head. Take a pragmatic approach and plan everything well in advance. This will go a long way to ensuring that your next property deal is a much less stressful one. Hopefully you may just surprise yourself and enjoy it!
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